lowering a 41 Ford coupe

[grumpy]

Hey guys(and girls)

I haven't been around alot. Had a pc melt-down.

Anyway, Anyone talk to me about dropping a 41 ford cpe.
I don't want a MII,  or a subframe.

It has a 289/C4, and a 9", but the bones are not split.

I'd like to drop it about 5" in the front.

Any opinions, methods, experience to share.

I was told to go 4" dropped ibeam, posies reverse eye spring would do it, and I wouldn't have to split the bones...

Opinions?

Talk to me. I've nevr done this.

Thanks all
Tim

[enjenjo]

You pretty much have the right info. You'll need dropped steering arms.

[48ford]

Check with speedway motors,they have a droped cross member that will drop it ,but i don't remember how much.
I used a posis reversed eye spring to drop mine some.
Russ&Irene

[Uncle Bob]

Just to add to the other comments, you won't get 5" from the axle/spring combo, only about 2 1/2-3" (not a bad thing, just reality).  Stock axles have the equivalent of a 2" drop, so a 4" dropped axle is good for around 2".  As for the Speedway crossmember, if I recall correctly they claim it's good for 3".  If you tried to use both combinations you might run into frame interference.

[Rex Schimmer]

If you go with the 4 inch axle and the reversed eyes and you're not low enough you can always do it the old fashion way, long shackles. You need to run a panard rod otherwise the wheels and axles will go one way and the frame and body will want to keep going straight. When I was "young" (that's about a millenium ago!) I had a friend with a neat 47 Merc coupe that was "ground scraper" and he did it with 6 inch long shackles and he heated the ends of the spring. Now I wouldn't recommend the heated spring but using an inch or two longer shackle will certainly give you some more drop, but you do need a panard rod.

Rex

[Okiedokie]

I am assuming you have a drop for the wishbone mount.  It would seem to me that if you go to low, you will be draggin that wishbone a lot. I know I did quite a bit on my 40 with split bones. You sure might want to give that some thought before you spend some $'s.

[sirstude]

Hey Rex,

I see you are going to watch a jet with no wings run. Don't forget to take pictures so we all can see.

Doug

ps.  There ain't no crossover on these boards!!

[grumpy]

I guess I don't know what you mean by a wishbone drop?

As for the speedway dropped c/m, if I use that and just a poises spring, will that take me down 3-4 inches? Then I can skip the 4" drop axle?

I'm not too familiar with this stuff. Most of all my cars/trucks in the past were either already sub'd, or MII.

I wanted to go alittle cheaper here. I can't afford to do a sub or MII currently(not with buying the car). And it sits WAY too high for my taste.

And it already has a 9", but it sits about 3/4" to far forward, and has no blocks, so I'm going to machine my own 3" lowering blocks with a offset pin to relocate the axle back 3/4"..

Follow any of that? haha  I sometimes ramble on..

[GPster]

I guess I don't know what you mean by a wishbone drop?As for the speedway dropped c/m, if I use that and just a poises spring, will that take me down 3-4 inches? Then I can skip the 4" drop axle?I'm not too familiar with this stuff. Most of all my cars/trucks in the past were either already sub'd, or MII. I wanted to go a little cheaper here. I can't afford to do a sub or MII currently(not with buying the car). And it sits WAY too high for my taste.

What are the width of the rear springs? Somebody must have changed them because the '41 had a traverse rear spring. Look and see if you could stand a 1 1/4" set-back which is about what early chevy springs have the center bolt ahead of the axel on the old closed driveshaft. If you're just going to fab a set and your springs are 1 3/4" leaves I've goy a couple of 3 1/2" blocks that I wittled out of a couple of pieces of rail road rails and you could do what you want for the spring center bolt locating (I'm down in Marietta Ohio). If you can find the pieces here's an idea for getting the front end down. '47 and '48 radius rods have a drop in the side to give you more frame clearance you might need if you go the longer shackle route. The radius rod end also has provision for a crossbar and tube shocks if you use the later axel. You can reverse the eyes on the front spring by just taking the main leaf and beating it to contour up-side down. It would probably still be nice to keep the steering components lined up with dropped steering arms and if you haven't got it to the point to please you you'll need them with a dropped axel anyway. I like Chassis Engineering arms better than everyone elses. GPster

And it already has a 9", but it sits about 3/4" to far forward, and has no blocks, so I'm going to machine my own 3" lowering blocks with a offset pin to relocate the axle back 3/4"..

Follow any of that? haha  I sometimes ramble on..

[Okiedokie]

Go to www.chassisengineeringinc.com and look at their 41 -48 Ford stuff. they also might be able to help you figure out if you can get where you want to go as far as ride height. Joe

[39deluxe]

Chassis Engineering has a lot of good stuff for these. To comment on other responses,  heating and bending the spring eyes was popular in the '40s and '50s and was free; probably why it was popular. Long shackles were also what most guys did as few of us had the $$ for dropped axles or knew anyone that could do it properly. My '47 with an early Chrysler hemi had long shackles both front and rear. Got it way down but I didn't like the movement you got with the long length of flat metal.

Using the Speedway crossmember would be a good start and will give you 3" of drop. Then a reversed eye spring like a Posies would get you very close to your 5" goal, maybe 4.5", without changing any of the relationship between the steering components and axle/wishbones. You could even take your main leaf to a spring shop and have it re-arched in the opposite direction so that the eyes are up instead of down. All that would change is the distance between the axle and frame rails. Then you could fine tune the ride hight with slightly longer shackles like 1/2" or 1" to get it right where you want it. Even 2" longer would be ok.

Doing your main leaf and using the crossmsmber  would be the cheapest way out and would be sound engineering. Not counting any worn parts rebuild or shock changing you could possibly do the deed for less than $200.

Tom  



91657104      
CROSSMEMBER, '41-'48 FORD
   EA    $99.95

[grumpy]

Wow, Thanks for all the great replys.

I have alot to ponder.

I'll have to look around, because I don't where to buy longer shackles..maybe the local spring shop will have them.

The new shackles and a poises spring sounds good, but so does the speedway c/m.

Hmmm...

Thanks again
Tim

[grumpy]

BTW, look at the pic by my name. That was my old 48 coupe. I'd love the 41 to sit like that.
The 48 was sub'd with a 69 camaro clip, and a matching r/e.

I just can't go through the expense of the sub, or MII right now.

Thanks everyone